Sorry...could not resist. I'm about a week or two out from my new TI purchase, so have to get the trailer finished up. I have gone the route of the Harbor Freight 4x4 and have just purchased an aluminum square tube that is 18' long. So my immediate question is how best to determine how long the section of tongue needs to be that will extend out in front of the trailer bed frame. Is there a rule of thumb, an equation or just a best guess. Most of the photos show the wheels towards that back of the trailer, which makes sense.

A typical boat and trailer will have 5-10% tongue weight. This is usually defined by how much weight the tow vehicle can handle and since boats are frequently weighed by the ton this makes sense. More is better here.

However, you have a tandem island which weighs as much as a single passenger. Even a Toyota Camry can handle the entire ti as tongue weight. So there is no max percentage. The higher you can get the percentage, the better it will tow. Oscillation is not the only problem, if the load is cantilevered without sufficient tongue weight it will bounce, putting lifting forces on the hitch ball that it is not designed to take. So forty pounds of tongue weight sounds good but only puts the wheels a few inches aft of the center of balance. Several feet is much better.

The only cost of moving the wheels further aft is your turning radius increases. My ti trailer has the boat overhanging the axle about 5' and a total rig length of ~21'. I have a nose wheel to move it around, probably 70~80 pounds of tongue weight.

Actually, i said i run 80 pounds. My trailer and boat weigh around 750 pounds, so im closer to 10% than 20%. Which is why i mentioned how critical the pivot point is. Test your rig, if it tows well and doesn t bounce, you're ok.

Thanks all for the information. I looked at the Trailex instructions for the SUV 350 and mimicked those somewhat. My axle is close to the rear of the trailer. Once I pick up some rubber grommets tomorrow, I'll finish the wiring for the lights and be ready for an initial tow test.

Getting pretty excited now...been waiting a couple of years for this. Hopefully will be ready to get the boat next week.

That trailer is so light that the percentages really won't matter. I would guess the location of the AI/TI on the trailer and add about 4' in front of the yak. This is what I did on my trailer and it works well even when my tailgate is down on my truck when load items in my truck. I'd post a pic of mine but I don't remember how.

I got my trailer guy to make the tongue as short as possible, so the trailer would fit in my garage. The front of the TI is not more than 12 inches from the tow-hitch, but with the set-up like that, I can drive at 70mph without the slightest concerns regarding the trailer's behaviour.

On the topic of tongue weight, are others bothered by the light tongue weigh when trailering? The clacking just drives me nuts. I store as much gear forward of the axle, and keep my spare tire in the forward hatch, but I would still like a heavier tongue. I have even flirted with attaching some sort of ballast to the trailer frame.

Once when going on a kayaking trip and left the amas and sail at home, I filled a medium dry bag with water for tongue weight.

On the topic of tongue weight, are others bothered by the light tongue weigh when trailering? The clacking just drives me nuts. I store as much gear forward of the axle, and keep my spare tire in the forward hatch, but I would still like a heavier tongue. I have even flirted with attaching some sort of ballast to the trailer frame.

Once when going on a kayaking trip and left the amas and sail at home, I filled a medium dry bag with water for tongue weight.

Thoughts? Clever solutions?

You could fill the tongue with concrete, that might add 40 to 60 pounds. Just plug one end, lift the other end, and pour away. Use sand with plugs to avoid the permanence of the concrete. U bolt a barbell right near the hitch coupling. Move the boat farther forward on the trailer if possible (I know this was likely your first step but...)

One other minor thing to think about - when you arrive at your destination, almost invariably you'll have occasion to pass from one side of the trailer to the other, while the boat is still on the trailer. If you do not have sufficient tongue length ahead of the bow, you may find yourself having to walk all the way around the stern of the boat each time you need to get to the other side.

Leave yourself enough extra inches so you can squeeze between the boat's bow and the rear of the tow vehicle.

Hello this will be my first post as a few weeks ago got my TI and bought a used boat trailer. I was able to pick up the boat trailer on Craigslist, it is a 19 1/2 ft trailer that I modified to carry my TI. I bought the cradles to use on it and took all the old boat stuff off except the frame basically. With my trailer being slightly longer than the boat and my wheels being only about 30" or so from the rear I have quite a bit of tongue wait. The back of the boat is even with the back of the trailer and the front is only a foot from the coupler. It does have 14" wheels that may help it ride better too not really sure. I took this boat on a 1,600 mile trip last week and it handled very well. I was able to drive 70-75 the whole way with no problems or concerns. I had all my accessories for the boat in the front hatch with the exception of the pedals as they won't fit in there. If you wanted to add more weight up front you could get one of those sand tubes people buy to put in their trucks for traction in the front hatch. Might be a bit of a pain to take out but if you were going on a long trip might be worth it. You may also be able to come up with some way to put the sandbag on the trailer and use it as a support for the front of the boat at the same time, would have to hope that the bag doesn't tear open though. I currently support the bow on two 2x4 stacked on top of one another bungees around the tongue, not the prettiest but it works for now. I will post pics in the future on the proper forum page.